Sausage and sweet wine

Toward the end of the year and when all the vegetables are gone, I clean up the vegetable garden. I make compost in the vegetable garden during winter to prepare for spring so the once lively garden is now a pile of dirt.

The garden looks empty but herbs are still there. I consulted with one of my favorite savory baking books, “All Day Baking” by Pippa and Michael James, and chose to make Pork, Sage and Onion Sausage Rolls.

All three herbs called for in this recipe, rosemary, sage and thyme, were in the garden. I must have been destined to bake this pie. I used shortcrust pastry instead of Puff pastry so it was quick and easy, but the pie was still so delicious.

We had this pie with Hans Lang Riesling Auslese Rheingau 2002

Auslese is a wine category in Germany. It indicates that the wine is made with very ripe grapes which have the high sugar content therefore the resulting wine is often sweet.

So, this wine was sweet but not too sweet. The sweetness was embraced with the minerality and fresh fruits, and together they created the depth of the flavor which was a good combination with the savory flavor of the sausage.

Some people say that they don’t like Riesling because it’s too sweet. Many of them had an unpleasant experience with the once popular cheap sweet Riesling.

Riesling is not always sweet (or cheap). Especially with the global trend for the drier wine you can easily find the dry Riesling wine from anywhere. To make it easier, the wines from Alsace carry the sweetness level guide on the label so that you can make sure that you are purchasing the dry wine.

And the well made sweet Riesling is far from the boring sweet alcoholic juice. The sweetness is perfectly balanced with the bright acidity, and with the rich flavors of fruits and herbs which are developed during the long growing season under the ideal condition for this variety, this sweet liquid becomes the wine with the depth and complexity, just like this bottle of Riesling.

I didn’t choose this wine to pair with this pie. The wine was happened to be open the day and I just tried them together without high expectations, and the outcome was surprisingly pleasing. I love when the food and wine pairing gives me the delicious surprise.

Domaine Zind Humbrecht Heimbourg Riesling 2002

Summers in the Bay Area are usually not too hot because of the cooling influence from the Pacific  ocean. This moderating effect helps to grow grapes for wine and helps me to enjoy healthy summers because I lose an appetite when the weather is too hot.

However, there are days which are quite hot this year. It’s not as hot as the heat wave in Europe or the East Coast but hot enough for me to lose appetite.

One of these days JC made beef salad inspired by Larb, meat salad from Southeast Asia.
Stir fried beef is wrapped in lettuce with other vegetables and dunked in fish sauce.
Crisp lettuce and the flavor of beef and fish sauce were appetizing. Good lunch for the sunny, hot day.


We opened Domaine Zind Humbrecht Heimbourg Riesling 2002 with this lunch.

Golden color.
Abundance of aromas and flavors of orange blossom, ripe orange, pear, ginger, bruised apple and slight honeycomb.
Acid is high but it feels soft, with a rich mouthfeel.


This is one of the wines which I bought when I started to buy wines and was thinking of opening on a special occasion, and I opened for this lunch because, I guess, everyday is special.

And the wine proved that it was the right occasion. The pairing was great !
The weight of the wine paired amazingly well with the strong flavor of the fish sauce and I enjoyed the lunch with a good appetite.

Grenache Blanc from Santa Barbara

Grenache is one of the popular red grape varieties.
It is a versatile variety with a medium level of acidity and tannin and red fruits elements.
It can be fresh and fruity rosé wine from Provence, France, or full-bodied red wine from Priorat, Spain.

There is also a white variety called Grenache Blanc.
It is a mutation of the red Grenache variety and usually used in blended wine.

I recently had a chance to try a very good varietal wine of Grenache Blanc.

Curran Santa Barbara County Grenache Blanc 2021

Good body with creamy texture and moderate acidity.
Citrus and stone fruits like peach or apricot, and a hint of strawberry.
Finish was clean and made you want to drink more.

I loved the strawberry flavor in the wine. It was lively yet subdued. 
This wine was refreshing and very pleasant to drink.

Oyster and Riesling

It’s almost the end of March.
There is something we need to do before we turn over the calendar…go get oysters!

One sunny day we drove to Tomales Bay Oyster Company.

Tomales Bay Oyster Company is a seafood farm in Marin county which specializes in oysters.

I am not that big a fan of oysters - I like them but am worried that I may get sick - but oysters here are so fresh that I don’t need to worry about the quality and love the drive to this scenic area.
And JC loves oysters, especially the big ones which he can find here.

It was a beautiful day and it seemed like everybody had the same idea.
The store had a long line and some of oysters were sold out...

Luckily the big oysters which JC craved were not quite as popular as smaller ones so we safely took them and clams home.

We had these fresh, meaty oysters with Riesling.

Selbach-Oster Mosel Saar Ruwer Riesling Spätlese 2005
Wine with golden color and pronounced aromas of honeysuckle, citrus flowers, tangerine, candied lemon and petrol.
Sweetness gives a rich mouthfeel which is balanced with fresh acidity.

Old Riesling pairs good with oysters.
This is a tip from Ridi Wiest, a legendary German wine importer (who now is a German art promoter).

Burgundy and homey food

Domaine des Comtes Lagon Meursault-Porusots Premier Cru 2014

Chardonnay from Meursault, Burgundy.
This wine is rich but also approachable.
Aromas spread in front of me - it was so vibrant that it was almost visible - a bouquet of white flowers, fresh fruits and marzipan.
Rich fruit flavors of pear and peach ended with slight bitterness of citrus zest.
Oak was there but as a supporter not as a dominator.
Bright acidity gave an accent to the round body.


We had this wine with Nikujaga.

Nikujaga is a Japanese comfort food: sauteed onion and beef are cooked in stock (dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sake) with potatoes.
It is a casual dish and wouldn’t be found in most restaurants, but is a very popular home food.

It was a surprisingly good pairing - a nothing fancy homey food like Nikujaga and Premier Cru Burgundy.
Then I realized that this combination wasn’t so far-fetched.
Nikujaga was said to be invented about 100 years ago by the Japanese Navy in an effort to recreate beef stew with Japanese ingredients, and beef stew and red Burgundy are the classic pairing.
I also used pork instead of beef this day (no reason, I just had pork in the fridge).
The lighter flavor of pork was a better pairing partner to the white wine.


I wondered if I cooked with beef, it could have been good with red Burgundy.
I should try it next time.

Chablis tasting with global warming

Chablis, the white wine AOC in Burgundy, France, is located at almost the northern limit for successful viticulture.
Spring frost is the constant concern and full ripening of grapes is not always guaranteed.

Their classification is divided into Grand Cru, Premier Cru, Chablis and Petit Chablis.

Grand cru vineyards occupy the best location. They sit on the famous Kimmeridgian soils and, especially important in Chablis, have good sun exposure to enable full ripening. As a result, wine is concentrated and complex and can be aged for years.

Grapes used for the production of Chablis and Petit Chablis are usually from the cool, north-facing vineyards. Fruits are less ripe and the resulting wine tends to be tart and lack concentration.

However, with global warming, the less favorable locations are becoming more favorable. The north-facing vineyard sites are now warm enough to produce fully ripe grapes constantly.

As the ripening of fruits is ensured the quality of wine improves and the production of these wines are increasing.


The other day I had an opportunity to taste these wines.

Domaine de la Tour Chablis 2019
Fresh aromas of green apple, pear, pineapple and mineral.
The fruits are riper on the palate and it was balanced with the bright acid.
Long finish.



J. Moreau et Fils Chablis 2019
Beautiful aromas of honeysuckle, pear, orange and green apple.
Finish is clean and pleasant.



Domaine Vrignaud Chablis Les Champreaux 2019
Single vineyard Chablis from the right bank of the Serein river.
Fresh aromas of lemon, lemon zest, white flower and herb.
Palate is more round like lemon confit or tropical fruits.

Domaine de la Motte Chablis Vieilles Vignes L’Authentique 2019
Old vine from the north-facing vineyard on Kimmeridgian soil.
Concentrated aromas of orange, pear, almond and seashells.
Fuller body than previous wines and the texture is round.



Domaine des Hates Chablis 2018
Complex aromas of apple, citrus, almond skin and oyster shell.
There was savoriness in the flavor with slight caramel in the aftertaste.


Domaine William Fevre Chablis 2018

Abundance of fruits like apple, peach, pear or melon.
Approachable wine which finishes with citrus zest-like bitterness.


I liked WIlliam Fevre by itself but other wines were really good with food.

Of course global warming would have its negative effect on viticulture too but for now, I enjoy the positive effect.

Baking with Gluten-Free Flour

During the shelter in place order I did a lot of baking.
As I looked for new recipes I also looked into using different kinds of flours such as oat flour, spelt flour or chickpea flour.

One of them was gluten-free flour.

It usually consists of almond flour, rice flour, potato starch, etc..., depending on the producer. 
I assume this flour was developed for people with gluten allergy but I thought that I could probably use this for recipes which I wanted to avoid developing gluten.

To compare with regular flour I chose to make Cornish pasties which I’d been making often recently.

The flour I used is King Arthur Measure for Measure Flour.

With this flour I made the shortcrust pastry dough with flour (mixed the gluten-free flour and pastry flour with 3:1 ratio), butter, salt and cold water.

The dough was hard to come together so I had to mix a lot. I didn’t need to worry about developing gluten but still tried to work quick because I didn’t want the butter to melt.

Folding the dough into the Cornish pasties shape was the hardest part.

The dough was very crumbly and kept breaking every time I tried to fold.

I somehow managed to shape them and finished baking.

From the look it was just like the Cornish pastry I usually make.
And the flavor was like my usual Cornish pasties, too.
The texture was flaky, also almost same as the dough made with regular flour, maybe with a little bit of powdery feel.

The pastry stayed flaky even after I kneaded longer than for regular pastry dough and tasted good. 

It was just so crumbly that I don't know if I want to use this for the pastry dough again.


After working hard, I needed to treat myself with nice pairing with wine.

Bodegas Vegalfaro La Grava 2018
Spanish red wine made with 85% Bobal and 15% Macabeo.

Ripe red fruits of wine and sweetness of pork were good together.


I used this flour for other baking to experiment further.
It didn’t make good sablé (shortbread cookies). The texture was wrong - it was almost mushy.
But I found the satisfying result with granola cookies and cake salé.

Wines from the Mediterranean region

As COVID-19 vaccinations progress things are gradually going back to normal and wine tasting events start to be seen here and there.

There was a tasting of wines from Mediterranean countries in San Francisco. 

The wines are from Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Spain.

The area facing the Mediterranean sea has the Mediterranean climate which means that the climate is relatively mild with low temperature difference throughout the year and the dry growing season. 

Although there is a risk of drought, the dry summer lowers the incidence of vine diseases and the warm temperature and sun can contribute to ripe fruits and full bodied wine.

Domaine Spiropoulos Ode de Panos Sparkling Brut 2019

Organic sparkling wine from Peloponnese, Greece.

Floral aromas of dried red and white flowers, spice, incense and stone fruits. 

Soft mouthfeel with sweetness and bitterness of citrus in aftertaste. 

Pikasi Pinela 2019

This is my first time to try a wine from Slovenia. Exciting!

Pikasi makes naturally fermented wine with indigenous grape varieties and Pinela is one of them.

Texture is rich and the citrus zest-like aftertaste gives crispness.

Zlatan Pošip 2018

Zlatan Otok is a winery in Croatia by the Adriatic Sea. 

Pošip is a white indigenous grape variety of Croatia.

Easy to drink, likable wine with aromas and flavors of citrus and stone fruits 

Jean Diot NV Rose

Jean Diot is a Champagne producer with very small production.

Complex aromas and flavors of mushroom, strawberry and cherry with long pleasant finish.

Cascina delle Rose

This is a family-owned winery in Barbaresco.

Their Nebbiolo vines are grown on the steep hillside vineyards and tended carefully by hand. Wines are fermented with natural yeast and aged in botti (large oak barrels).

 

Langhe Nebbiolo 2016

Beautiful aromas of dried flowers. High, powdery tannin. 

Barbaresco Tre Stelle 2015

Concentrated aromas of tea and dried flowers which is balanced with high tannin.

Barbaresco Rio Sordo 2017

Elegant wine with aromas and flavors of dried flowers and red and black cherries which are ripe but not overripe.

Thymiopoulos Vineyards Earth & Sky

Thymiopoulos is the first certified biodynamic winery in Naoussa, Greece.

Beautiful Xinomavro (indigenous red grape variety from Greece) with a good structure. 

Tannin is high but balanced with ripe concentrated red fruits, which makes this wine approachable and very enjoyable.

Anatolikos Vineyards Natural Orange 2019

Anatolikos is an organic wine producer in Thrace, Greece. 

Their wines are not only organic, also vegan.

Uplifting aromas of orange, orange flowers and marshmallow. 

The wine finishes with tiny bitterness.

Danielle Conterno is the fourth generation of the wine producing family from Piemonte, Italy.

Langhe Nebbiolo 2019

Grapes are from younger vines but wine has a good structure, which is balanced with ripe red fruits.

Barolo 2016

Rich aromas of red fruits, flowers and spices.

Powerful wine with high but soft tannin. 

Barolo Panerole 2016

Ripe tannin is balanced with the presence of delicate yet lively red flower, fruits, herb and tea.

Wine with power and elegance.

These are only few of the wines I tried at the tasting.

Most of the wines I had there were enjoyable with vibrant fruits and ripe tannin.

I especially enjoyed wines from Croatia and Slovenia.

They are still hard to find but definitely worth to try!

Cristom Vineyards

When I first met JC we both liked wine but were poor students.

His go-to wine country was Livermore Valley (relatively affordable wine) and my go-to wine was whatever cheapest on the store shelf.

One summer, on the way back from attending his friend’s wedding in Washington state, we decided to drive through the Willamette valley in Oregon and visit as many wineries as possible.

Weather was beautiful, scenery was gorgeous and people were great. We enjoyed all wineries: their stories, their hospitality and of course their wines.
Especially two wineries, Cristom and Bethel Heights, stood out among them.

At the wineries they explained how terroir would affect wine as we tasted wines from different vineyards and I was really impressed by the fact that the same grape variety from the same producer could end up in wines with such different styles.
It was so impressive that I bought bottles of wine which costed more than $40.00 for the first time in my life.

Recently I had a chance to taste Cristom again when JC brought home these three bottles.

Cristom Vineyards is a family owned winery in Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon.
Eola-Amity Hills is a sub AVA of Willamette Valley AVA, on the west bank of the Willamette river. There, cooling influence from the Pacific Ocean and sites sheltered by hills provide varied conditions for wine making, and Cristom doesn't waste this advantage.



Eola-Amity Hills  Willamette Valley Chardonnay 2019
Fresh aromas of herbs, citrus, stone fruits, subtle nuts and caramel.

Round texture.

Clean bitterness of citrus zest stays in aftertaste


Eola-Amity Hills Willamette Valley Eileen Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016
Eileen vineyard experiences the cooling Pacific Ocean wind which prolongs the growing season. This helps to develop flavor while retaining freshness in fruits.

Decadence of ripe dark cherry, plum, coffee, red flowers and candied rose petals. Rich aromas and flavors are balanced with acidity.

Smooth texture with fine tannin. 

Long pleasant finish.


Eola-Amity Hills Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Mt. Jefferson Cuvée 2019
Mt. Jefferson Cuvée is a blend of grapes from their own vineyards and neighboring vineyards who partner with Cristom.

Preserved strawberry which is ripe but not jammy. Black cherry, spice and cedar box.
Good structure with powdery tannin. Full body.


It was more than ten years ago when I first tasted their wine as a wine novice. Since then I had opportunities to try great wines from all over the world.
When JC brought home bottles of Cristom I was a little afraid that I might not have found the spark which intrigued me years ago but that concern was needless. 

Their wines are still impressive.

Cornish pasties with Asian twist

It’s good to have an herb garden in a backyard.

When you need a little bit of herbs you can snitch a tip of herbs in a garden instead of buying a bunch from a store.

It would also entertain you with ideas of playing with the herbs in a kitchen.

 
I amended the soil a lot because my backyard has heavy clay soils.

My hard work paid off and now I have cilantro growing huge! It’s time to enjoy the harvest from the garden.

There are so many things you can do with cilantro and I decided to incorporate it into Cornish pasties.


Here’s my Cornish pasties with Asian twist:

6 oz ground pork
Half onion, chopped
Cilantro, chopped
Garlic, grated
1 tsp oyster sauce

Half tsp sugar  
Salt
Shortcrust pastry dough


Mix all ingredients except the dough in a bowl.

Roll out shortcrust pastry dough and cut with a big cookie cutter.

Place the filling in the center of the each dough and fold in half.
Heat the oven to 350°F and bake them for 40 minutes

Delicious! With this small size pie, I can enjoy the combination of the flakiness of the pastry and juiciness of the filling in one bite.  

I kept it low in salt so l can really taste umami flavor of meat with a hint of cilantro which was good with round acidity and fruitiness of this light bodied sparkling wine.

Hammerling Wines Wind, Sand & Stars Sparkling Gamay Noir 2020

Sparkling Gamay from Sierra Foothills, with aromas of violet and raspberries.

Red Wines of Irancy

It’s been more than a year since the shelter in place order took place.
As more and more people have been vaccinated, slowly and carefully shops and events are starting to open in San Francisco.

Last week I attended one of these socially distancing tasting events.

Irancy is a red wine AOC in Burgundy, France.

It’s lesser known comparing with other Burgundy red wine regions since there is no premier or Grand cru.
Its isolated location doesn’t help its recognition either. It’s just south-west of Chablis and away from the famous Côte d’Or.

However, wine producers of Irancy believed in their wine as good, and worked hard to create higher quality wine, like keeping yields low to produce concentrated grapes.

Years of their effort resulted in attaining the AOC status in 1999.

Their red wine is based on Pinot Noir but little different from the ones from Côte d’Or: it is allowed to use up to 10 % César, a red grape variety with dark color and high tannin.

Domaine de Mauperthuis Les Mazelots 2017
Pinot Noir with little Cesar.
Aromas and flavors of fresh cherry, raspberry and strawberry with spices and forest aromas in the background. 

Silky tannin.


Domaine Colinot Les Cailles 2017
Complex aromas of dark cherry, clove, coffee beans, pepper and tar. 

There is savoriness in this wine.


Domaine Clotilde Davenne 2016
2016 was a challenging vintage with frost and hail.
Fruit-driven aromas of fresh and tart cherry, raspberry and cranberry. 

Body is light.


Domaine Jean-Louis et Jean-Christophe Bersan Cuvée Louis Bersan 2016
Fragrant wine with aromas of decayed rose, strawberry and black tea. 

Powdery tannin supports the delicate flavor.


Domaine Verret Palotte 2015
Year of 2015 had hot, sunny and dry summer, but wine is still refreshing.
Red fruits aromas which is ripe but not cooked. 

Rich fruits are balanced with fine tannin.


Domaine Christophe Ferrari La Bergère 2015
Dark fruits like black cherry, black berry and cassis. 

Fruits are so concentrated, almost like Coca-Cola. 

Spices like anise and orange peel add complexity to it. 

Well structured wine with strong tannin.


These wines are exactly what the wine makers say: they are complex but easy to drink. It's good as aperitif and also good with food.

Winemaker’s Cut Grüner Veltliner 2018

Winemaker’s cut is a winery in British Columbia, Canada.

The name Winemaker’s cut sounds more like a music or movie title than the name of a winery and the impression is not quite deceiving. 

Music plays a big role in this winery as vines and wines are tended with classical music constantly played in vineyards and the winery. 

They say that the frequency of classical music helps to make better wines. 

I don’t know the theory behind it but as a matter of fact vines closer to the speakers grow faster in their vineyards. Interesting.

Their Grüner Veltliner 2018 is from the vineyard in the southern part of the Okanagan Valley.

The wine has the aromas and flavors of apple, peach, slight bitterness of citrus zest and sweet pea. 

Nice, soft texture with clean finish.

We had this with corned beef and potatoes.

Wine was interestingly good with both sweet vegetables and the strong flavor of corned beef and mustard. Even good with horseradish.

It was definitely a great food wine but also good just by itself. 

It was so good that we almost finished the wine before dinner. I’m grad that we managed to save some to have with the meal.

Christmas Baking

There is one Christmas Day ritual which JC has to follow: eating panettone for breakfast.
To fulfill this duty I made Mataloc this year.

Mataloc is a panettone-like bread from the lake Como area in northern Italy.
I used a recipe from "The Italian Baker" by Carol Field. Comparing with the panettone recipe in the same book, they are very similar with maybe little less butter for Mataloc.

I didn’t have a panettone pan so used a cake pan. 

The outcome was ... colossal!

The texture could be similar to brioche than airy panettone but it tasted just like panettone.

I have never had Mataloc. I’ve never even seen it therefore I don’t know if the Mataloc I made had even the slightest resemblance to the original bread, but JC loved it and that’s all that matters, at least for this mission.

For the dessert I made the Black Forest cake.
It is the traditional German cake with Kirschwasser flavor.
Since the Black Forest cake uses whipped cream, not butter cream, it is of course sweet but there is some lightness in its sweetness rather than being heavy or rich.

The sponge cake was soaked with the Kirschwasser syrup and cream was whipped with Kirschwasser, so we had this cake with Kirschwasser.

Cleanliness of the spirit together with the light sweetness of the cake created smooth pairing.

Next day we had this cake with the sparkling wine.

Domaine Collin Crémant de Limoux
This is a rosé sparkling wine from southern France made with a traditional method.
Fresh aromas and flavors of apple, plum and cherry with bitterness of apple skin.

I thought that the bitterness of the wine would collide with the cake but, in fact, with the cake the bitterness disappeared and the wine went good with the cake, especially with the cherry and surprisingly very good with the cream！

Thanksgiving Lamb Dinner

The turkey is a staple of the Thanksgiving dinner table.

However, since we are not a big fan of the turkey meat our Thanksgiving dinner menu rarely includes a turkey.

This year was not an exception: we had Lamb Wellington for the Thanksgiving dinner.

I made the puff pastry the day before and JC made the lamb Wellington with it.

We opened red Bordeaux wine for this dinner.

Les Pagodes de Cos Saint-Estephe 2014

The full-bodied red wine from the left bank.

The first impression was the abundance of fruits like ripe red and black fruits or fruit syrup, then herbs and cigar gradually appeared.

Soft tannin and the fruitiness made this wine very approachable.

And the pairing of lamb and red Bordeaux was of course success.

Cake salé

Baking a lot means eating sweets a lot.
Even I, who’s got quite a sweet tooth, started to feel like that I was taking too much sugar.

I wanted to keep baking but reduce sugar intake, so I chose Cake salé as my next baking project.

Cake salé means savory cake in French.
Ingredients are just like a cake: flour, egg, fat, but without sugar.
Fillings I used were olives, dried tomatoes, caramelized onion, corned beef and cheese.
I also needed to add white wine so asked JC to get some.

He brought Giacomelli Azienda Agricola Giardino dei Vescovi Colli di Luni Vermentino 2017
White wine from Liguria, Italy, with the beautiful golden color and the aromas of orange blossoms and a hint of hazelnut.

He chose this because the savory quality and the rich texture of the wine would be good with the cake.

Without sugar the cake didn’t rise like sweet cakes but the taste was good.
The texture of the cake gives faint perception of sweetness which makes saltiness of fillings round.
As a rule of thumb, wine used in cooking was good to pair with the food.

19th Century Beef Pudding

Since I mostly stay home due to the pandemic I bake more often. 

To bake often it would be more fun to do it with some project in mind.

British baking is always intriguing to me. I’ve been fascinated by English pies and puddings in story books and pictures from when I was a kid.

One thing always puzzles me in the British baking is suet.
Suet is the fat of cows and mutton, and I couldn’t really imagine how it would be integrated in pastries - it seems to be a good time to challenge baking with suet!

Shredded suet

I used a recipe of 19th century beef pudding from Regula Ysewijn’s Pride and Pudding.

Suet for baking can’t be any fat. It has to be the specific hard fat found around kidneys and its higher melting point of between 113 and 122F makes it ideal for cooking, creating a light texture without burning quickly.
Fortunately the butcher we contacted knew exactly what we were looking for.

To make the suet dough mix suet and dry ingredients well then add liquid. 

Roll out the dough then place it in the mold. 

Add the beef filling, pour the beer and cover with the leftover dough.

JC was excited with this project too and made the filling with beef, vegetables and herbs.
Steam for one hour. 

I thought the dough would be very greasy since it was made with beef fat, and didn’t grease the mold thinking the fatty dough would be easy to be removed from the mold. Mistake. 

The dough wasn’t greasy and it stuck inside the mold.
It took a big crack on the pudding to take it out from the mold but the flavor was surprisingly good.

The combination of the beef filling and the dough tasted ... like Chinese buns (and I love Chinese buns)!

JC opened Producteurs Plaimont Saint Mont 2016
He bought this Tannat-based red blend wine from southwest France at Costco. It’s not easy to find affordable Tannat here.

It was full-bodied wine with fruits somehow overshadowed by the strong structure. 

It wouldn’t be a kind of wine to enjoy by itself but was good with the strong flavor of the pudding.

I'm overall satisfied with the suet in savory pudding project.
Next time I’d like to try making sweet pudding with suet.

Tomato Tarte Tatin

This time of the year we are gifted with the abundance of tomatoes in the garden.

I usually make tomato sauce but this year I wanted to try something different and found an interesting recipe: Cherry Tomato Tarte Tatin !

The recipe is from the book The Art of The Tart by Tamasin Day-Lewis.
It’s a real tarte tatin, not just the name. 

The filling is simply cherry tomatoes with caramelized balsamic vinegar and baked under the puff pastry.

It’s very simple recipe - after making the pastry dough there was nothing really left to do - therefore I didn’t have too much expectation but it was really tasty!

The picture in the book shows bright red color of tomatoes but my tomatoes were baked much longer (I used a bigger pan) and lost the beautiful color.
It’s less appealing but for the taste, well-baked tomatoes were sweeter and suited for this dish, I guess.

The wine we had with was Kirkland Rioja Reserva 2015

Very good wine with lots of fruits and soft tannin, especially for its price ($7.99!).
Its concentrated red fruits went very good with sweet and sour baked cherry tomatoes.

Oven Efficient Dinner

The Shelter in place order is still in effect but stores have been gradually opening with restrictions.

The other day I was walking neighborhood and saw an antique shop with the display outside the store. There I found a cute orange Pyrex with a lid which I fell in love with instantly and brought back home.

This is a perfect size for the Basque cheesecake I wanted to make.

Basque cheesecake is baked at very high temperature to create its distinct burned surface. It is the same temperature as baking bread so I planned to bake baguette at the same time. Then JC decided to cook the lamb for dinner in the oven too.

He seared the lamb then finished cooking in the oven.

We had two wines for this dinner:

Clos Cibonne Côtes de Provence Tibouren 2018

Castelli Green Valley of Russian River Valley Nebbiolo 2014

Refreshing rose wine with a hint of citrus peel-like bitterness cut grease of the dish, and the Nebbiolo with high, soft tannin was a good companion to the flavorful lamb.

Dessert was the cheesecake ... well, it had to be rested overnight so we had the dessert next day.

For this Basque cheesecake, we had Primator Double Bock. 

This is a dark colored beer from Czech Republic; It’s rich with fruit, even tastes sweet, but light in body.

Pairing was great. It tasted like bitter sweet coffee.

Barolo Brunello Barbaresco tasting

Before the shelter in place order took place, I attended a tasting event of beautiful Italian wines.

Ca'Rome Barolo Cerretta DOCG 2016
Barolo made with low yielding Nebbiolo grapes from a single vineyard.
Beautiful aromas of rose, red plum, raspberry, candied cherry, herbs and tobacco.
Elegant wine with high, powdery tannin.

Boscarelli Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Il Nocio DOCG 2016
100% Sangiovese.
Fresh red fruit, cherry blossoms, preserved plum and medicinal herbs.
Powdery tannin with refreshing acidity.

Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2015
Complex aromas of red fruits and savoriness of caramelized onion and smoked meat, which are backed by the firm structure.
It feels pure joy to drink this wine.

Bongiovanni
Langhe Arneis DOC 2019
Very aromatic white wine made with 100% Arneis grape, with aromas of fresh grapes, ripe grapefruit, pear and peach.
Refreshing, full-bodied wine.

Barolo Pernanno DOCG 2016
Exotic aromas of herbs and incense.
Gripping tannin was softened and became approachable when it was paired with cheese.
Good food wine.

Conterno Fantino
Barbera d'Alba Vignota DOC 2017/2018
Multi-vintage wine.
Deep sweet aromas of Amaretto and ripe red fruits.
Aroma and flavor of oak add depth to the wine.

Podei Luigi Einaudi
Barolo Cannubi DOCG 2016
Beautiful aromas of rose, chestnut and ripe red fruits
High, well-integrated tannin gives the strong backbone.
A wine with power and decency.

Barolo Bussia DOCG 2016
Complicated aromas of fresh and desiccated red fruits such as plum and cherry, quince and almond, which are balanced with lively acid and anchored by firm tannin.

Gaudio Bricco Mondalino Malvasia di Casorzo Dolce Stil Novo DOC 2018
Cute rosé wine with floral aromas, made with Malvasia Rossa.
It is sweet but not too sweet. Good to drink as an apéritif. 

They were all amazing wines.
Now I'm staying at home, remembering the wines, and thanking for the opportunity that I got to taste these wines before the corona pandemic forced all events to be cancelled.
Hope everything goes back to normal soon and we can go out and find those great wines.